Chibok Schoolgirlsâ€™ Parents Blast Jonathan

Two-hundred and sixty-two days after theirdaughters were kidnapped from school,some of the distraught parents of thestudents of Government Secondary School,Chibok, Borno State, on Thursday criticisedPresident Goodluck Jonathan for not fulfillinghis promise to rescue the girls from thecustody of Boko Haram.The abduction of the 219 girls from theirhostel at night on April 14, 2014 has attractedglobal outrage and the President hadpromised several times that the girls wouldbe rescued alive.

Nine of the abducted girlsâ€™ parents, duringtheir meeting with the #BringBackOurGirlsgroup on Thursday in Abuja, carpeted thePresident for failing to bring back theschoolgirls.

The leader of the parents, Rev. Mark Enoch,accused the government of having a hand inthe abduction of the girls, noting that theprincipal of the school in Chibok had, fewhours before the abduction, locked the girls intheir hostel and warned them not to leave.Enoch explained that the relatives of theprincipal and the school matron were able torescue their daughters from the sect, leavingother girls in captivity.

â€œThis is intentional, the hand of governmentis in the kidnapping; we want thegovernment to bring back our girls. If theycannot do it alone, they should seek theassistance of the United Nations and someadvanced countries, the distressed fathersaid.

The cleric, who appreciated the BBOG for notgiving up on the girls, noted that but for theactivities of the coalition, the issue of the girlswould have been forgotten given the remotelocation of the Chibok community.

Another parent, Mrs. Samuel Abana, askedthe President to fulfil the promise he made inJuly, 2014, when he met with the parents atthe Presidential Villa, Abuja. The Presidenthad told the parents that the governmentwould secure the release of the girls.

Abana, who broke down in tears whilespeaking, recalled that the FederalGovernment had initially denied the abductionbefore Jonathan met with the parents andpledged to rescue their daughters.

â€œI want to remind the President of hispromise when he met with us; hepromised to rescue our daughters, hesaid he would bring the girls back, butsix months later, there is no result. Mr.President, will you fail to rescue them,if your daughter is abducted? If youcanâ€™t do it alone, invite the UnitedNations to come and rescue ourdaughters,â€ she said.

Another parent, Bulama Jonah, recalled howthe school principal sent his daughter homebecause she had not paid N300 fortestimonial certificate, adding that the girlshad just two subjects to do in theirexaminations before they were taken awayby their abductors.

â€œThe saddest thing was that mydaughter was sent home because ofN300 just a day before she waskidnapped; I gave her the money forher testimonial and she went back toschool only for her to be abducted,â€ hesaid.

Mrs. Martha Enoch said she was tired ofgovernmentâ€™s failed promises, and urged it totake whatever action was necessary torescue the seized girls.â€œGovernment kept saying they wouldbring back the girls, but if they canâ€™tbring them alive, they should bring theirdead bodies,â€ she stated.The BBOG lamented the failure of thePresident to mention the issue of the Chibokgirls in his New Year broadcast, stressing thatit showed that the government did not careabout them.

Few days after the girls were abducted, BokoHaram claimed responsibility for thekidnapping. It released a video of the girlswhile the sectâ€™s leader, Abubakar Shekau,boasted that the young girls, most of whowere said to be Christians, had beenconverted to Islamic religion and that theywould be given out in marriages at a token.While unconfirmed reports said that some ofthe girls had died of snake bite in the forestwhere they were kept, a handful had escapedfrom the insurgentsâ€™ captivity.The United Nations in August had announcedrehabilitation facilities for the escaped Chibokgirls.

In a statement on the UN website, the UnitedNations Population Fund had said that it wasworking in collaboration with the WorldHealth Organisation and the United NationsChildrenâ€™s Fund to set up clinics to providehealth screening for any of the girls comingback, as well as educating those who hadescaped.

The representative of the UNFPA in Nigeria,Ms. Rati Ndhlovu, had also been quoted assaying, â€œThe girls are running from homeand they have no menstruation pads andhave nothing to use. They need water.